Students from the United States, South Korea, and Slovakia win international ocean art contest
The Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation is thrilled to announce the winners of our annual student art competition, the 2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge. Every year, this international contest engages students in ocean conservation through art, encouraging them to create pieces that inspire people to preserve, protect, and restore the world’s oceans and aquatic resources.
The Foundation received entries to the Science Without Borders® Challenge from more countries than ever before. A total of 680 students from 63 countries sent in artwork illustrating this year’s theme, “The Magic of Mangroves.” This is the first time we received submissions from more than a dozen countries including Afghanistan, Kuwait, Maldives, Panama, Senegal, and Zambia. Mangrove forests are important marine ecosystems that protect the coast from storms, filter the water removing sediment and pollutants, sequester a surprising amount of carbon, and provide critical habitat for many species both above and below the waterline. The winning entries in each category are beautiful pieces of artwork as well as excellent illustrations of the benefits mangrove forests provide to people and the environment.
Artwork in the competition was judged in two categories based on age. Sharon Choi won first place in the category for 15-19 year old students in the 2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge for her stunning artwork, The Guardians of the Sea. A 16-year old student at Sunny Hills High School in Fullerton, California, Sharon created a piece of art that illustrates how mangrove forests provide a refuge for marine species, particularly in their early stages of life. “I really liked the idea of mangroves being a safe-haven for young fish, like a kindergarten, so that is what I wanted to portray in my piece,” she said.
Mangrove forests support an incredible array of wildlife. Many species of fish and invertebrates rely on the intricate network of mangrove roots for protection when they are young, before entering the open ocean as adults. Sharon said that she hopes her artwork shows the importance of mangroves. “I don’t think that most people know about mangroves, so I hope that my art raises awareness about this ecosystem, so that it is equally talked about like coral reefs,” she said.
Second place in the high school category of the 2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge went Lesana Behanova from Trenčín, Slovakia for Protective Wings of Mangroves, and third place went to Michelle Yang from Sacramento, California for her piece, Stop, Let’s Preserve Our Mangroves.
Second Place: “Protective Wings of Mangroves” by Lesana Behanova, Age 15, Slovakia 
Third Place: “Stop, Let’s Preserve Our Mangroves” by Michelle Yang, Age 16, California, United States of America
First place in the category for students 11-14 years old went to 13-year-old Dana Chung, a Korean boarding school student at Indian Mountain School in Lakeville, Connecticut. Her piece, Shelter, shows how mangroves create habitat for other organisms and shelters them from storms. Dana says that she wanted to portray mangrove forests as a “shelter that protects sea animals” and that she wanted to show that “mangrove trees are valuable, not just to people, but also for the Earth.”
This competition introduced students around the world to mangrove forests and encouraged them to learn more about this critical coastal marine ecosystem. Dana says that the Science Without Borders® Challenge made her really interested in the environment and mangrove trees, and the competition inspired her to do more. “I’m so fascinated by this topic that I would like to learn more about mangroves and create a website to teach others about this ecosystem too,” she said.
Zihan Wang from New York City took home second place in the middle school category for her piece, Propagules’ Future, while Chenyue Wang from Cupertino, California won third place for her artwork, Seed of Hope.
Second Place: “Propagules’ Future” by Zihan Wang, Age 14, New York, United States of America 
Third Place: “Seed of Hope” by Chenyue Wang, Age 11, California, United States of America
Each of the winners will receive scholarships of up to $500 from the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation to celebrate their achievement and so they can continue to pursue their interests in art and ocean conservation.
Through this competition, the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation hopes to educate students worldwide about the need to protect our ocean and inspire the next generation of ocean advocates. Amy Heemsoth, Director of Education at the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, said that “students and teachers who participate in this competition continue to impress me with their evident passion for marine conservation and drive to make a difference. This gives me hope for our ocean’s future.”
The Science Without Borders® Challenge
The Science Without Borders® Challenge is an international student art contest run by the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation to engage students in marine conservation through art. The annual competition welcomes entries from all primary and secondary school students 11-19 years old. Scholarships of up to $500 are awarded to the winning entries. Students and teachers interested in next year’s competition can learn more and apply at: www.livingoceansfoundation.org/SWBchallenge.
Winners of the 2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge
"The Guardians of the Sea" by Sharon Choi, Age 16, California, United States of America
Artist's Statement: Over the years, human activities have caused huge biodiversity loss in marine ecosystems, endangering many plants and animals. However, mangrove trees are a nutrient-rich breeding ground that supports an incredible array of wildlife. In my piece, the mangrove roots intertwine to form a shielding gate to protect swimming species from their predators. Several crabs, shrimp, and fish rely on the intricate network of roots in their early stages of life before entering the open ocean as adults. If we clear mangrove forests, we threaten the survival of over 1,300 species, including numerous fish and sea turtles. Mangrove trees are known to be survivors that thrive in extreme conditions that are deadly to most plants. However, we must ask ourselves if mangroves will also be capable of surviving the accumulative pressures of climate change and an expanding global footprint of human development that are already affecting them at an alarming rate.
One Comment on “Winners of the 2021 Science Without Borders® Challenge”
Jan Baldwin
Congratulations go to our young artists. They have grasped in their artwork the scope and high value to wildlife who make the mangrove forests their home.